Page 352 - ... driven out of the ground by severe floods; and the fish on which they prey in fine weather in the sea, leave the surface, and go deeper in storms. The search after food, as we have agreed on a former occasion, is the principal cause why animals change their places.

Page 10 - Thou hast a home, Beautiful bird ! thou voyagest to thine home, Where thy sweet mate will twine her downy neck With thine, and welcome thy return with eyes Bright in the lustre of their own fond joy. And what am I that I should linger here...

Page 222 - They are so numerous that we have frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them extending full half way over the bay, or to a distance of more than three miles, and so close together that thirty have fallen at one shot. This living column, on an average, might have been about six yards broad, and as many deep ; so that, allowing sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there must have been nearly four millions of birds on the wing at one time.

Page 221 - Hill, from the myriads of small birds of that name which frequent its base, and appear to prefer its environs to every other part of the harbour. " They are so numerous that we have frequently seen an uninterrupted line of them extending full half way over the bay, or to a distance of more than three miles, and so close together that thirty have fallen at one shot.

Page 413 - At the south end of the Isle of Man lies a little islet, divided from Man by a narrow channel, called the Calf of Man, on which are no habitations but only a cottage or two lately built. This islet is full of rabbits, which the Puffins coming yearly dislodge, and build in their burroughs.

Page 235 - July, the old ones show vast affection towards them, and seem totally insensible of danger in the breeding season. If a parent is taken at that time, and suspended by the wings, it will, in a sort of despair, treat itself most cruelly, by biting every part it can reach ; and the moment it is loosed, will never offer to escape, but instantly resort to its unfledged young...

Page 262 - Here the ganet soares high into the sky to espy his prey in the sea under him, at which he casts himself headlong into the sea, and swallows up whole herrings in a morsell. This bird flys through the ship's sailes, piercing them with his beak.